The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1887-12-09


sional and personal service e. 934, $40 Of whom
are domestic servants and laborers,. while
l,s1O,256 are employed in trade and trans
portation, and 3,s37, lI2 are classed as en-
ployed in manufacturing and mining.
For present purposes, however, tho last
number given should be considerably re-
duced. Without attempting to enumerate
all, 1t will be conceded that there should he
deducted from those which II includes 375, 14S
carpenters and joiners, 285, ,401 mlliners,
dressmakers and seamstresses, 172, ,726 black
smiths, 133, 756 tailors and tailoresses 102, ,473
masons, 76,24i butchers, Al, 800 bakers, ~, ,OS3
plasterers and ,S9l engaged in manufacture
ing agricultural implements, amounting in
the aggregate to !, 1,2l4,023, leaving 2,623, ,OS9
persons mployed in such manufacturing in
dustri as are claimed to be benefited by
high tariff.
10 these the appeal is made to save their
employment and maintain their wages by
resisting change. There should be no dis
position to answer such suggestions by the
allegation that they are in minority among
those who labor, and therefore should forego
an advantage In the interest of low prices for
the majority their compensation, as it NAV
be affected by the operation of tariff laws,
should at all times be serupulously kept in
view, ana yet with slight reflection they will
not overlook the fact that they are con-
sumers with the rest; that they, too, have
their own wants and those Of their families
to supply from tn ir earnings and that the
price of the necessaries of life as well as the
amount of their wages will regulate the
measure Of their welfare and comfort
But the reduction of taxation demanded
should be so measured as not to necessitate
or Justify either the loss of employment by
the working man nor the lessening of his
wages; and the profits still remaining to the
manufacturer, after a necessary readjust.
ment, should furnish no excuse for the sacri-
nee OF the interests of his employees either in
their opportunity to work or in the diminu-
tion OF their compensation Nor can tho
worker In manufactures fail to understand
that while high tariff is claimed to be
necessary to allow the payment Of remun-
erative wages, it certainly results in a very
large increase in the price of nearly all
sorts Of manufactures, which, in almost
countless forms, he needs for the use of
himself and his family. He receives at the
desk of his employer his wages, and per.
haps before he reaches his no ne is Obliged.
in a purchase for family use of an article
which embraces his own labor, to return
In the payment Of the increase of price
which the tariff permits, the hard earned
compensation OF many days Of toll.
AN APPEAL TO THE FARMERS.
L farmer and the agricu turist, who
manufacture nothing, but who pay the in
creased price which the tariff imposes upop
every agricultural implement, upon all he
wears and upon all he uses and owns, except
the increase OF his flocks and herds and such
things as his husbandry produces from the
q inx ta1 TO a,I ;,,
present situation; and he is told that a high
duty on imported wool Is necessary for the
benefit Of those who have sheep to shear. in
order that the price of their wool may be in
creased. They of course are not reminded
that the farmer who has no sheep is by this
scheme obliged, in his purchases of clothing
and woolen goods, to pay tribute to his fel
low former as we'll as to the manufacturer
and merchant; nor is any mention made of
the fact that the sheep owners themselves
and their households must wear clothing and
use other articles manufactured from the
wool they sell at tariff prices, and thus az
consumers must return their share of this
increased price to the tradesman.
THE WOOL QUESTION.
/ think it may be fairly assumed that a
large portion of the sheep owned by the
farmers throughout the country are found
in small hocks numbering from twenty-five
to fifty. The duty on the grade of imported
wool which these sheep yield is ten cents
each pound II OF the value of thirty cents or
less, and twelve cent? if Of the value of more
than thirty cents If the liberal estimate of
six pounds be allowed for each fleece, the
duty thereon would be sixty or seventy-two
cents, and this may be taken as the utmost
enhancement of its price to the farmer by
reason of this duty. Eighteen dollars would
thus represent the increased price of the wool
from twenty five sheep and $50 that from the
wool of fifty sheep; ana at present values
this addition would amount to about one
third of its price. II upon its sale the farmer
receives this or less tariff profit, the wool
leaves his hands charged with precisely that
sum, which in all its changes will adhere to
it until it reaches the consumer. Whom
manufactured into cloth and other
goods and material for use, its
cost is not only increased to the extent
OF the fariaer's tariff profit, but further
sum has been added for the benefit of the
manufacturer under the operation of other
tariff laws. In the meantime the day arrives
when farmer fin it necessary to pur-
chase woolen goods and material to clothe
himself and family for the winter. When
he taces the tradesman for that purpose he
discovers that he is obliged not only to re-
turn in the way of increased prices his tariff
profit on the wool he sold, and which then
perhaps lies before him in manufactured
form, but that he must add a considerable
sum thereto to meet a further increase in
cost caused by tariff duty on the manufac-
ture. Thus in the end he is aroused to the
fact that he has paid upon moderate pur-
chase, az result of the tariff scheme, which
when he sold his wool seemed SO profita le,
an increase in price more than sufficient to
sweep away all the tariff profit he received
upon the wool he produced and sold.
When the number of farmers engaged in
wool raising is compared with all the farm
ers in the country, and the small proportion
they bear to our population is considered;
when 1t is made apparent that, in the case of
large part Of those who own sheep, the
benefit of the present tariff on wool is illu-
sorry; and, above all, when it must be con-
ceded that the increase of the cost of living
caused by such tariff becomes burden upon
those with moderate means and the poor,
the employed and unemployed, the sick and
well and the young and old, and that it con-
stitutes tax which, with relentless grasp,
is fastened upon the clothing of every man,
woman and child in the land, reasons are
suggested why the removal or reduction of
this duty should be included in revision of
our tariff laws
INCREASED COST OF HOME MANUFACTURES.
In speaking of the increased cost to the
consumer OF our home manufactures, result
ing from duty laid upon imported articles
OF the same description, the fact Is not over
looked that competition among our domestic
producers sometimes has the effect of keep
ing The price of their products below the
highest limit allowed by such duty. But it
is notorious that this competition is too often
strangled by combinations quite prevalent at
this time, and frequently called trusts, which
have for their object the regulation of the
supply and price of commodities made and
sold by members Of the combination. The
people can hardly hope for any considera-
tion in the operation of these selfish schemes
II, however, in the absence of such combi-
nation, healthy and free competition re-
duces the price Of any particular dutiable
article OF home production below the limit